Positano 1960

Will Barnet made ‘Positano’, a large painting, with oils and canvas. The interplay of stark black shapes against a subtle blue ground really grabs you. It’s so bold, almost graphic, but then you notice the texture. The black isn’t just black; it's built up, thick in places, with the ghosts of brushstrokes hinting at the artist's hand, his process. Look closely at that massive oval. It's like a void, but a void made solid. The more you look, the more it seems to shift, to breathe, it feels so present! It's like he’s playing with positive and negative space, weight and lightness, all at once. The angular forms that intersect this oval really create a dynamic tension. Barnet's work always had this way of simplifying the world down to its essence, like a visual poem, an echo of artists like Ad Reinhardt, who also found depth in reduction. These works remind me of the ongoing conversation that art is and the power of ambiguity in art.